Sassafras is easily recognized by its mitten-shaped and three-lobed leaves that can occur on the same tree, and its aromatic bark and roots that smell of root beer. It is the larval host plant for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Its dark blue berries on red stalks are an important early fall food for migrants including wood thrush and red-eyed vireo.
Habitat
Forest edges, old fields, and upland forests across eastern North America
Diet
Berries eaten by thrushes, vireos, and other migrants; larval host for swallowtails
How common
Common
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